


25 Lives

by orphan_account



Series: 25 Lives [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Past Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2014-04-27
Packaged: 2018-01-20 23:16:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1529369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were good lives, bad lives, lives where Patrick loved others, and lives where Patrick didn't love at all. Sometimes, they didn't meet. Sometimes, they were strangers. Others, they were enemies. There were lives where Patrick died by Jonny's hands, lives when he didn't exist at all. Jonny prefers the ones where Patrick kills him to those. The best lifetimes were the ones in which they grew up together and Patrick would whisper his secrets, fingers entangled with Jonny's. Whenever they met as adults, Patrick was always more discerning. Each time, Jonny would wonder if it was the last time, if Patrick would be happier without him. Patrick never remembered him, but Jonny would chase him through a thousand lifetimes just to find the one where Patrick returned to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	25 Lives

**Author's Note:**

> This work is heavily based off of the poem/artwork 25 Lives by Tongari. It can be found at http://s2b2.livejournal.com/142934.html .

The first time they meet, Jonny is living in a box on the street, his fur matted with dirt and even a little blood. A woman with blonde hair crouches down next to the box, extends a hand. He bites her. The whole reason he's out here, all alone instead of at home with his owner is because of a blonde woman who would scream at him no matter what he did. 

She hisses and he recoils, bracing himself for the hit. It never comes. Instead, he gets a gentle pet on the head and the lady makes cooing noises at him. After a few minutes, she stands up to leave. He barks, asking her if she'll come back. 

"I know," she says, then picks the box up and takes him home with her. She cleans him up, feeds him off of her own plate, and pats the empty space on the bed next to her when he starts to get sleepy. She's reading a book by candlelight, her injured hand resting on the bed. Jonny nuzzles it in apology. She smiles down at him. "I know."

They live happily, Jonny spending his days trailing after Patricia, barking at anyone that gets to close, protecting her. It lasts for a few weeks until she starts spending more and more time in bed, smelling wrong and sick instead of happy. Her hand is a mess of ooze and pus and Jonny nuzzles at her neck in apology and whines, not knowing what he can do. She ruffles his ears with her good hand. "Shhh, it's okay. We'll meet again."

Strange people, all dressed in black, come to collect the her a day after she stops moving. They put her in a hole in the ground and start covering her with dirt. He barks at them, digs his teeth into their legs to get them to stop. One of them pulls a knife out. Jonny stills, then slowly pads up to the man with the knife. He nudges the knife and yips, points a paw at where Patricia is lying in the ground. The man nods, so Jonny thinks he understands. 

The last thing Jonny sees is her blonde hair, shining from under the dirt. He hopes she's right.

\-------

The next time they meet, Jonny can speak and she's a brunette. Her name is Serah and he loves her even more than the last time. She doesn't love him back. At first Jonny thinks that it's because she she remembers what he did to her in her last life, but she doesn't remember her last life at all. She tells him that he can't love her. Not when they're both women. Jonny kisses her and she cries. She always cries when he's around. So he leaves.

\-------

In the next lifetime, the one Jonny will always remember because it was so sweet, Jonny meets her when he's a young woman. At first, Jonny isn't sure it's her, because Patricia is a man this time. Then Evan - as she's called in this life - smiles and Jonny just _knows_.

He paints her, makes Jonny's plain features beautiful, and always gives her more money than she's worth so she can buy nice things for her sisters. She tells him she loves him and he shakes his head, pats her on the cheek, and tells her it wouldn't be proper, for more reasons than one, then returns to painting her image. While he paints, she tells him about their past lives. He doesn't shush her or complain, not even when she cries so hard that she ruins her pose. Instead, he believes her, and paints their past lives, sketches what they might be in the future. 

They elope. They have a single child, a boy named Nikolas.

\-------

Jonny never finds out what happened to Nikolas. He doesn't find Patricia either, not for 242 long years of living. He thinks maybe he's just missing her, the gaps between his lives separating them. He's worried she's stopped existing, but that can't be true because he's still in love with her. So she must be out there somewhere.

\-------

Once, Jonny is born as a lion. He lives in a ring and has to fight men with shields and swords. Every day, he contemplates throwing himself on a sword so that he might search for Patricia again. Only the fear that he might miss her if he does so stops him.

He never considered the fear he'd feel if she stepped into the ring, sword and shield in hand, shackles around her ankles. Patricia doesn't stand a chance against him. She doesn't have gleaming armor like the others that step into the ring, and she's so _tiny_. Her form is male, but Jonny knows it's her, from the shine in her eyes.

Jonny sits on his haunches for her, tilts his neck to the side. He will not fight her. 

Patricia looks at him with wonder, drops her shield despite the way her limbs shake with fear. 

The crowd yells, their cries so loud Jonny's ears hurt. He roars at them, furious that they'd do this to him, to Patricia. Patricia lowers her sword and approaches him slowly. He licks at her hand, not minding the grime, then looks up at her beseechingly. "I know you, don't I? I remember you. I met you as Patricia, but my name is Patrick."

Jonny nudges Patrick's sword hand. 

"Don't make me do this. Please."

Jonny nudges her sword and purrs as loud as he can, trying to convey his affection, how he would rather die by Patrick's hand than anyone else's.

The last thing he sees is sea green eyes. He hopes that in his next life, they'll live near the ocean.

\-------

Patrick never remembers him again, after that.

\-------

There's a lifetime when Jonny meets Patrick twice. Patrick is two people, twins. They both love him, as he does them. He breaks both their hearts with his indecision.

\-------

Jonny finds Patrick too late. Patrick already has a family and is perfectly happy without him. Every time Patrick smiles at his wife, Jonathan wants to die. Jonny befriends him anyways. It's the worst decision he's ever made. 

But he couldn't have lived any other way.

\-------

Patrick is a storyteller in this life. His favorite story is the tale of Icarus, a boy who flew too close to the sun and dreamed himself to death. By the time Patrick reaches the end of the tale, his voice cracks with sorrow and sympathy.

Every time, Jonny wraps Patrick in his arms and whispers, "You know what he was thinking in his last moments? I bet he was thinking it was worth it." 

Patrick laughs and kisses him. "What would you know? You're just a spoiled prince."

Patrick turns out to not be _Patrick_. Jonny only realizes this when his aide, the man who'd raised Jonny since he was a child, throws himself in front of a arrow to save the storyteller. Jonny had spent a decade of this life searching for Patrick, another one loving the storyteller, only to learn, too late, that the one he truly loves had been by his side the whole time.

Jonny cradles Patrick in his arms, whispering apologies and promises, until Patrick is no longer breathing. His last words were, "I always loved you."

\-------

They meet before Jonny is even thirteen, ice beneath their skates and adrenaline in the air. Jonny is so excited that he nearly passes to Patrick every time he gets the puck during the first half of the game. Jonny's team still wins though, of course. Patrick does good though. Amazing, even. Jonny tells him so during the handshake line, but Patrick ignores him, doesn't even shake his hand. Jonny knows for a fact that Patrick is ignoring only him because Patrick shakes everyone else's hand.

He has to be better then, so good that Patrick can't ignore him.

The next time they meet, they're on the same team, the Junior Flyers. Patrick walks in looking completely ridiculous, wearing flip flops of all things. He's all of four feet and five inches of skinny nothing. Jonathan loves him more than he should, given all of this, and can't help the goofy grin that appears on his face. 

"What are you looking at?" Patrick frowns. Jonny shrugs, because he doesn't know what he can say that won't freak Patrick out. "I'm going to beat you in points," Patrick threatens. "So you better wipe that grin off your face."

"I look forward to it," Jonny counters.

It's the best hockey he's ever played. Patrick is always there when he passes, like magic. They fly down the ice together like they've done it a dozen time before. The coach quickly figures out that he should put them on the same line, but even when Jonny isn't out there setting Patrick up, Patrick is still brilliant. Jonny doesn't even have to let Patrick win. Patrick's smile at the end of the tournament is so bright that Jonny is left speechless. 

They _have_ to play hockey together again. Forever. Somehow, Jonny is going to make it happen.

Years later, it happens. They share a team, a room, and most importantly, a line. They get into a million fights and Patrick does really ridiculous things with his hair, but for some reason that just makes Jonathan even more fond of him. Even if Patrick can't grow a beard and inexplicably loves Twilight. 

They make headlines, most of which inadvertently hint at them being romantically involved. Or maybe they do that on purpose, Jonathan isn't sure. Either way, he and Kaner get a good laugh at them, though Jonny secretly wishes the headlines were true. Yes, #theyareadorable together, as Mark Lazarus likes to point out, but it'd be even better if he and Kane hooked up, thank you Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune for that headline. Jonny promises himself that he'll tell Kaner about how he feels after they win a Stanley Cup together. He hopes it happens sooner than later - works his team hard and himself even harder - because he's tired of watching Kaner going home with people who aren't him, people who don't care about him like Jonny does. 

It happens.

Kaner whoops and throws himself at Jonny. "We won! We fucking won the Stanley Cup!"

Jonny catches Patrick and they're screaming at each other, high on their win, their teammates crowding around them. This is their lifetime. They're going from thirteen to the rafters this time.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think whether on AO3 or on tumblr at http://misadventureofme.tumblr.com/ because I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm thinking of writing another fic, "The 26th," wherein Jonny is reborn as a girl and is determined to play hockey with Patrick again in the NHL, but I don't know if that's something anyone would be interested in reading.


End file.
